INDIANAPOLIS --- The Tusculum College baseball team has dropped two spots and is ranked sixth in this week's NCAA Division II Southeast Region rankings.

The Pioneers (36-16) won three of its five South Atlantic Conference Tournament games and advanced to last Sunday's championship series where TC dropped a pair of one-run decisions to Catawba College.

The top three in the Southeast Region remains the same as USC Aiken holds down the top spot, followed by Georgia College & State University and Francis Marion University. Catawba jumped one position to fourth after going 5-1 last week, with its only setback coming in a 9-3 loss to Tusculum. UNC Pembroke jumped two spots to fifth, followed by Tusculum, Belmont Abbey College and Erskine College.

The three leagues that make up the NCAA II Southeast Region (South Atlantic Conference, Peach Belt Conference and Conference Carolinas) will each receive an automatic berth to next month's NCAA Tournament. Catawba (SAC) and Belmont Abbey (Conference Carolinas) have already punched their ticket for the NCAA postseason, winning their respective tournament titles. Next weekend's Peach Belt Conference Tournament champion will claim the third automatic bid. Three at-large bids for the Southeast Regional will also be awarded.

Tusculum captured its fourth SAC Championship in the last five years this season and has already clinched its fifth straight campaign with at least 35 victories and seventh in a row with 30 wins.

- NCAA -

NCAA Division II Southeast Region Baseball Rankings
Rk. Team Prv.
1 USC Aiken 1
2 Georgia College & State 2
3 Francis Marion 3
4 Catawba* 5
5 UNC Pembroke 7
6 TUSCULUM 4
7 Belmont Abbey* 5
8 Erskine 8
* Automatic qualifier